Book Rating

Narrator Rating

Endgame: Solving the Iraq Crisis

Abridged Audiobook

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Date: April 1999

Duration: 3 hours 0 minutes

Summary:

The resignation of Scott Ritter as chief weapons inspector for UNSCOM in August 1998 made front-page news around the world. Now Scott Ritter draws on his seven years' experience hunting Saddam's weapons of mass destruction to take readers inside Iraq and show that country as it has never been seen by outsiders before. In Endgame, he dissects the failure of U.S. policy in Iraq and reveals a bold new approach to ending the ongoing Iraq crisis.
In Endgame, Ritter describes Saddam Hussein's rise to power, painting a damning portrait of a dictator who ruthlessly eliminated rivals as he fought his way to the top. When the U.N. Security Council authorized inspections of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons facilities following the conclusion of the Gulf War, Saddam put in place a concealment program designed to preserve his weapons capabilities. It was this concealment mechanism that UNSCOM spent seven years trying to penetrate in its search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Ritter takes us with him inside some of Iraq's most carefully guarded sites as he describes what it was like to conduct these inspections.
Endgame criticizes current U.S. policy toward Iraq, pointing out that we have squandered an international consensus and now find ourselves virtually isolated over our Iraq policy. Scott Ritter offers a way out of the Iraqi morass, proposing a bold and innovative solution to the current crisis. He argues that the U.S. should again take a leadership position on Iraq if we are to avoid facing a re-armed and emboldened Saddam on another battlefield in the future.

Genres:

Brad King

This book paints a vivid picture of everything wrong Iraq was doing and how big of a threat they really were and how they could have been a much bigger threat if they ever got their nuclear program off the ground. Pretty scary to think how close they were to producing nuclear warheads. After hearing this, it further diminished my view of the Clinton administration, same goes for Bush, although that had already pretty much bottomed out.
Ritter's solution is somewhat idealistic, but it would have been the right path to take to get the nation, and the world, behind us if/when the U.S. had to go to war. I think his appraisal of the situation, particularly how important public support is and the need for full on war, is spot on. Instead our gov't did the exact opposite and we all see how well that is working out. Maybe his solution wouldn’t have worked, but it would have a clear plan of action one way or the other, peace or war, with a solid foundation based in reason for each.

Paul Harbison

The American people should listen to this audiobook and they would understand how the Clinton Administration failed to address the role of the Iraqi Government in it pursuit of chemical, biological and nucleur weapons (WMD). While many believe that Iraq did not possess these weapons, it is quite clear that they were hiding something. Perhaps, history will tell how naive and willing the American public believes that Iraq did not possess or try to possess WMD. This is a good audiobook but kind of dry in presentation.

Jasmine

An excellent overview of the history of the situation, and a concise and rational (if somewhat idealistic) proposal of action. It is surprisingly prescient, and one wishes that the international community had listened to him!